Nupid Thoughts

Winter Quarter 2013

What a quarter. It’s [finally] half over, and so much has happened, yet there’s still so much more to do. That’s the beauty of the quarter system, I guess. I knew what I was signing up for when I registered for 3 upper-division psychology classes [two of them in the hardest fields, in my opinion… psychopharmacology&cognitive psychology are no jokes], but I definitely didn’t think I’d be working as much as I am now. In the last two weeks, I acquired two new jobs [in addition to the 3 I already work], and it’s been an adventure for sure. I haven’t started my 5th job yet [first day is on Tuesday!], but I know that this will definitely test my time management. I guess hour-wise it’s not going to be as bad as I thought; less than 30 hours a week of work [and not all of it on-location] plus school isn’t horrible.

Oh, and I’ve started working out again. Thank goodness for having best friends who’ll get up early to run with me. Oh, and cheers for discovering more ways to work out. Zumba is super fun! And I look forward to starting yoga in the next two weeks, so hopefully in addition to the two[ish] days of running/cardio a week + a day of strength&conditioning, I’ll be doing yoga once or twice a week. It feels really good to get back on the workout grind; my boss/ex-coach made fun of me, saying, “If I had seen you this often when you were in high school, you might have actually been fast.” So sad, yet so true. I feel like college life is so much more flexible than high school life, though. I sleep early so I can wake up early-ish [well okay, 8… it’s later than I woke up for high school, but earlier than most college kids wake up] and get a workout in before work/school kick in. Didn’t have that as an option in high school.

Anyway, I’m learning a lot about academics, worklife, and well, myself this quarter. This may not be the way most normal students choose to go through college, but then again, whoever said I was normal? Two and a half quarters left at SCU… Love it, but can’t wait to be done&out to the real world. Kind of. Time to go to bed so I can wake up early&study&then work. Cheers to the freakin weekend. Seriously.

Expectations vs. Reality

I entered college with the expectations that these would be the best 4 years of my life… that I would meet my best best friends there [you know, the girls who would be standing next to me ten years down the line as I say my wedding vows. Well maybe not 10 years, but you get the point].

I think the first disappointment hit me when my freshman-year roommate&I didn’t end up best friends. We got a long reallyyy well for the first quarter; we were pretty much attached at the hip. However, by the time the year ended, I was pretty relieved that we weren’t going to be rooming together anymore [albeit it was because I was moving home]… not because I don’t like her, because I really do. It just got too stressful. We were just very different people, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, it made me kind of sad.

I think moving home didn’t help with my discontent [with college]. I worked a lot my sophomore year, so right after my classes got out, I would run to work, and then go home&do homework. And repeat. I didn’t really have time to keep in touch with my friends I’d made my freshman year, and we just fell out of touch a bit. I went through a rough patch where I just felt very disconnected with everybody in my life, and well.. I was just lonely. I eventually moved out of my funk, and started adjusting my expectations about… college, friendship, and well, life, I guess.

I haven’t had the most typical college experience ever. I chose to go to a school close to home; I was blessed in that my parents let me live in the dorms my first year, but in a way, it made moving home during my second year even harder. Having that first taste of freedom, after 18 years of restriction was too short&sweet. Being a commuter after living on campus was really hard for me to adjust to, especially since I hated [and still hate] driving. Being in a long term relationship from highschool to college also isn’t typical [I think], and while I’ve been blessed with the best boyfriend in the entiiiiire world, well, he’s not going to be one of the bridesmaids at my wedding yenno? Hahaa…

Anyway, so yeah, I came into college with the expectation that I would meet my best friends there, but I’ve just recently realized that the people I’ve met during my younger years set the bar so high in terms of quality of friends, that it was basically impossible to find people who can meet that bar. I’ve made one best friend throughout my 2 1/3 years at SCU, and I’m content with that. I’ve also made a few pretty good friends, but when push comes to shove, nobody has my back quite like my besties that I’ve made throughout the last 10 years of my life. Plus Ann, of course.

But anyway, I’ve learned to adjust my expectations, and to just really be happy with what I have in the “real world,” rather than what I thought I would have. To finish off, I guess I just wanted to say “thank you” to everybody who’s been a part of my life. You guys know my history better than anybody I’ve met in the past 2 years because well, we grew up together. And while I’m not the same person I was when I went to college, because you all know where I’ve come from, I know y’all understand why I am who I am today better than others do.

Much love <3 <3 <3